Boardman gets stimulus funding for stormwater projects

BOARDMAN — Fifteen township stormwater projects, totaling about $6 million, have been tapped to receive federal stimulus funding.

A project each in Sebring, Warren and Lowellville and five each in Youngstown and Columbiana County round out the list of Mahoning Valley water projects to receive the money through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

“We submitted 15 projects for funding and received funding for all 15,” said Larry Wilson, township road superintendent.

The projects total about $6 million.

“Half of the money is guaranteed,” Wilson said. “The other half is through loan — about $3.5 million in loans — that have to be paid back over 20 years.”

Included on the list are the six flood control projects that had been set to go but were put on hold by trustees in 2007 because the township didn’t have the money to complete them.

Those six projects were developed after flooding plagued parts of the township in 2003 and 2004 when heavy rain deluged parts of the Valley.

“These are projects that had been shelved because we didn’t have the money,” said Larry Moliterno, trustee chairman. “Without a change in the economy, they probably would have remained on hold for the foreseeable future, so this is great that we got this money.”